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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Today we will learn how to draft a Peter Pan collar. Peter pan collar is a nonconvertible collar, that is it stays in place when unbuttoned and it closely follows the shape of the neckline of the dress. There are many types of Peter Pan collar. The one I show here is a flat collar without a roll which is detached at the back also.

First, spread out the front and back patterns. Cut and divide the back pattern piece at the center. Make 1 1/2-inch button and buttonhole folds on the left and right back pieces, respectively.

Now, this is how the front and back patterns with seam allowances look.

Take the front piece and one of the back pieces (either right piece or left piece). With the right sides facing together, match their shoulder seams. Stick the shoulder seams using glue, so that the pattern pieces won't slip away when you draft the pattern. You can also pin them together.

Turn it right side. Now you got the neck shape.

You need to decide the width of your Peter Pan collar in this step. Add 1/2 inch (1/4 inch + 1/4 inch) to the width for seam allowances on both sides. For example, if you want to have a collar width of 2 inches, then the total width is 2 + 1/4 + 1/4 = 2 1/2 inches. Mark 2 1/2 inches on the center front from the neckline. Draw a line.

The back side has button and buttonhole folds that will overlap each other. Therefore, I left 1/2 inch from the center back and marked the back collar edge. See the image below.

Mark 2 1/2 inches from the neckline in at least 10 to 12 spots between the front and back collar corner points as in the image below.

Join the dots. You could now see the collar getting shape.

All you need to do now is to give a rounded shape to the front and back corners of the collar. To do this, you need to mark 3/4 inch from the front and back outer edge corner points of the collar. Join the points to make the curvy shape. You can also draw this shape freehand without marking the points, or you can use a French curve.

Place a tracing paper on the draft and trace the collar pattern. Trace the neckline including the 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Cut it out from the tracing paper. Voila! Your Peter Pan collar pattern is ready.

Monday, September 5, 2011

I made a frock using the A-line dress pattern shown here on my blog, and I would like to share the step-by-step tutorial with you all. I tried the peter pan collar on the neckline of this frock. This is my first attempt on peter pan collar and I am quite happy with the result. Here is the finished dress:

Front:

Back:

A close-up photo of the fabric I used:

Tutorial starts....

Step 1:

Cut the front and back sides of the frock using the pattern given. The fabric I used is a cotton fabric which has bunny cartoons all over.

Fold the back piece into half vertically and cut open the center back. The back of the frock should be two pieces now.

On the bottom hemline, mark 2 1/2 inches from the center on both sides for buttonhole and button stands. You can see green markings on the bottom hemline in the image above.

Step 2:

Make a small fold (about one-quarter of an inch) inside (to the wrong side) on both the back pieces as shown in the image below.

Fold again and hem. This fold should be bigger than the first fold (that is, about 1 inch).

You could notice in the image above that the button and buttonhole folds are slightly lower than the neckline. To correct this, you need to reshape the neckline. First, draw the new back neckline such that the top edges of the folds fall on the neckline, and then cut along the drawn shape.

Note: I just noticed something. You will be using your front and back
paper patterns when you draft the collar. If you change the shape of the back
neck as shown in Step 2, there are chances that the collar may not fit well
on the neckline. I had no problem when I attached the collar. However,
this may sometimes go wrong. Therefore, when you draft the back pattern
of the dress, draft the folds such that they are higher than the
neckline as in the image below. So that when you fold it, it will be on the neckline, you can trim off excess, if any.

Step 3:

Join the shoulders.

Step 4:

Attach bias tape to the armholes.

First, fold the 1 1/2 inch width bias tape in half, and pin it on the right side of the armholes.

Sew in the bias tape, leaving a 1/4 inch seam.

Clip the seam every 1/2 or 1 inch. Be careful not to cut through the stitch. (You can also use pinking shears to clip the seam.) Clipping the seam will give the armhole a better shape.

About Me

Hi! Thanks for stopping by. I'm Flora, wife to a wonderful person and mom to two naughty girls, 6-year-old and 18-month-old. Embroidery, sewing, and drawing are my passion. My mom is my greatest inspiration. I am happy to share my knowledge and experience in sewing and embroidery with you all through my blogs. You can find free sewing and embroidery tutorials and patterns on my blogs. Hope you will have a nice time around here. You can contact me at flora.flowers.boo@gmail.com